Exposure apparatus and exposure method
First Claim
1. An exposure apparatus, comprising:
- a means for applying a charged particle beam or a light onto a sample, and exposing a desired pattern onto the sample;
a data processing means for bitmapping the shape of the pattern, and generating the pattern shape data in the bitmap format; and
a means for controlling the application of the charged beam or light onto the sample using the pattern shape data in the bitmap format, and the data processing means comprising a function of rejecting an overlap area between patterns from pattern vertex data defining the pattern shape; and
a function of generating the pattern shape data in the bitmap format based on the result of the overlap rejection function.
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Abstract
The present invention provides an exposure technology capable of generating bitmap data with high efficiency, and making compatible higher resolution and higher speed control in exposure using pattern data in a bitmap format. An apparatus implementing the exposure technology comprises: a means for applying a charged particle beam or a light onto a sample, and exposing a desired pattern onto the sample; a data processing means for bitmapping the shape of the pattern, and generating the pattern shape data in the bitmap format; and a means for controlling the application of the charged beam or light onto the sample using the pattern shape data in the bitmap format, and the data processing means comprising a function of rejecting an overlap area between patterns from pattern vertex data defining the pattern shape; and a function of generating the pattern shape data in the bitmap format based on the result of the overlap rejection function.
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Citations
15 Claims
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1. An exposure apparatus, comprising:
- a means for applying a charged particle beam or a light onto a sample, and exposing a desired pattern onto the sample;
a data processing means for bitmapping the shape of the pattern, and generating the pattern shape data in the bitmap format; and
a means for controlling the application of the charged beam or light onto the sample using the pattern shape data in the bitmap format, and the data processing means comprising a function of rejecting an overlap area between patterns from pattern vertex data defining the pattern shape; and
a function of generating the pattern shape data in the bitmap format based on the result of the overlap rejection function. - View Dependent Claims (2)
- a means for applying a charged particle beam or a light onto a sample, and exposing a desired pattern onto the sample;
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3. An exposure apparatus, comprising:
- a means for applying a charged particle beam or a light onto a sample, and exposing a desired pattern onto the sample;
a data processing means for bitmapping the shape of the pattern, and generating the pattern shape data in the bitmap format; and
a means for controlling the application of the charged particle beam or light onto the sample using the pattern shape data in the bitmap format, and the data processing means comprising a function of decomposing the pattern shape into a plurality of rectangle patterns parallel to any one coordinate axis of the orthogonal coordinates defined on the sample, and converting the pattern shape into the data format for expressing the pattern shape as a pair of opposite corner point coordinates of each line parallel to any one coordinate axis of the orthogonal coordinates defined on the sample;
a function of grouping corner point data representing the respective rectangle patterns on a per given coordinate area basis, and sorting the respective grouped corner point data by reference to the coordinates of the respective corner point data;
a function of rejecting an overlap area between patterns from the respective sorted corner point data; and
a function of generating the pattern shape data in the bitmap format based on the result of the overlap rejection function. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
- a means for applying a charged particle beam or a light onto a sample, and exposing a desired pattern onto the sample;
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11. An exposure method, comprising the steps of:
- controlling the application of a charged particle beam or a light on a sample using pattern shape data in a bitmap format, and exposing a desired pattern onto the sample; and
in addition, decomposing the pattern shape into a plurality of rectangle patterns parallel to any one coordinate axis of the orthogonal axes defined on the sample, and converting each rectangle pattern into the data format for expressing the pattern shape by a pair of opposite corner point coordinates of each line parallel to any one coordinate axis of the orthogonal coordinates defined on the sample;
grouping corner point data representing the respective rectangle patterns on a per given coordinate area basis, and sorting the respective grouped corner point data by reference to the coordinates of the respective corner point data; and
rejecting an overlap area between patterns from the respective sorted corner point data, wherein the pattern shape data in the bitmap format is generated based on the result of the overlap rejection step. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15)
- controlling the application of a charged particle beam or a light on a sample using pattern shape data in a bitmap format, and exposing a desired pattern onto the sample; and
Specification